Shropshire residents turn out in force for successful Type 2 diabetes event

Fifty Shropshire residents have attended an event to help people reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The webinar, organised and delivered by regional healthcare provider Living Well Taking Control on Thursday 2 September, took attendees through the lifestyle choices which can increase a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and crucially gave them an insight into what they can do to prevent the disease.

Living Well Taking Control is the regional provider of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP), which has supported more than 100,000 people who were previously at risk of Diabetes to get their blood sugar down to a healthy level and keep the disease at bay.

The NDPP is a free support intervention which coaches at-risk members of the community to make impactful changes to their lives over the course of nine months. Participants are allocated an individual coach in their local area who works with them to create a tailored plan for reducing their chances of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Although some factors, such as age, ethnicity and family history, are out of a person’s control, Type 2 diabetes is often brought on by lifestyle factors such as diet, the amount of exercise a person gets, whether or not they smoke and their stress levels; it’s these controllable factors that the NHS programme focuses on.

Speaking about his experience on the programme, one participant said:

“I used to drink a lot of beer, red meat, chips, pizza, the lot. I wasn’t greedy but I feel like I didn’t have a stop limit. I just didn’t really think about what I was eating – if I wanted it, I would have it. I used to do a bit of walking but not a great deal.

Now, my partner and I do our 10,000 steps every single day and she’s doing even better than I am – she’s lost five stone since we started! We’ve always lived near the Wrekin and never been able to climb it, so when we reached the top for the first time that felt like a huge achievement and really contextualised how much progress we’d made.

I have nothing negative to say about the programme, it’s changed our lives and the changes we’ve made are just our habits and our way of living now.”

Ron Owttrim, CEO of Living Well Taking Control, said:

“We were delighted to see so many residents attend our event and take this first step towards controlling their risk of developing this life-changing disease.

Our team are ready and waiting to help all of our at-risk neighbours here in Shropshire and, as with most things in life, getting started is always the hardest part – so to see so many people proactively taking this step for themselves is inspiring and something they should be proud of.”

Living Well Taking Control has been delivering the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) across England since 2016 with work beginning in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin in April 2020.

To find out if you are at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, take LWTC’s 7-question risk calculator test at: www.lwtcsupport.co.uk/know-your-risk-tool

Or to find out more general information about the programme, visit: www.lwtcsupport.co.uk